Impact Releases Joey Ryan and Dave Crist, Suspends Michael Elgin

Impact announced today that they have released Joey Ryan and Dave Crist, and suspended Michael Elgin after allegations against the wrestlers came out in recent days.

Impact released this statement to media:

Impact Wrestling confirms that it has terminated its contracts with Dave Crist and Joey Ryan, effective immediately. In addition, it has suspended Michael Elgin pending further review of allegations of misconduct.

Joey Ryan has had several allegations of sexual misconduct pop up against him in recent days, including groping and sexual assault.

Dave Crist was accused of sexual assault by an ex girlfriend and of sending unwanted photos. Other people have also spoken out against him.

when i was still training i was 100% groomed and sent unwanted photos by dave crist but any time i spoke about it i felt like i didn’t have a voice because i was a 20 year old trainee or was laughed at because ‘hE sHoWs EvErYoNe HiS dIcK’.

— young queen of pittsburgh (@ziggyhaim) June 18, 2020

Michael Elgin was also accused of sending an unwanted photo.

Who wants to see Mike Elgins dick pic? I still have the convo, unwanted photo, and emails he tried to send me under a fake name in 2016. @JordynneGrace tried to help me bring this to light when his first scandal came out but the wrestling media didn’t care #SpeakingOut

— Kaitlin Diemond (@kaitlindiemond) June 19, 2020

According to PWInsider, Impact’s production team was “working all day” to remove Joey Ryan from tomorrow’s episode of Impact. He, RVD and Jake Crist were scheduled to face Crazzy Steve and two mystery partners on the show.

Dave Crist was reportedly going to be released by Impact even before the recent allegations against him, PWInsider says, because there has been heat on him. WrestleZone says that the heat started when Rich Swann was injured during a match with Crist in January. Swann reportedly blamed Crist for the ankle injury, which has kept him out for months, and wanted an apology from Crist, but he reportedly refused. Other Impact wrestlers then reportedly requested that Crist be released. Since then, Crist has had heat against him and has been banned from the Impact locker room.